DAI SILK Guidelines

This document provides knowledge resources to aid risk assessment of cultural heritage property in museums, libraries and archives. It is offered by the German Conference of National Cultural Institutions (Konferenz Nationaler Kultureinrichtungen / KNK) on its website. KNK is a cooperative association furthering the interests of 23 nationally significant cultural institutions.

For every topic, the resource provides introductory information, questionnaires, definitions, and references to specialist knowledge about potential risks to cultural property. A series of questionaries lead to an assessment of threat to cultural property. The evaluation also includes recommendations on mitigation efforts, and specialist knowledge material such as emergency plans. Some of the reference material is made available in German only. 

Some of the risk factors for cultural heritage assessed using the SILK guidelines include:

• Theft
• Vandalism
• Fire
• Severe weather